Conventional beds generally include a frame, a box spring that is supported by the frame and a mattress that rests on top of the box spring. Conventional frames generally consist of a head rail, foot rail and two pairs of spaced, parallel side rails that form a rectangle that conforms to the shape of the box spring to be placed thereon. The rails support the outer periphery of the box spring mattress.
Although sufficient for most smaller beds, the rectangular configuration fails to sufficiently support the center of most larger beds, such as queen or king-sized beds. Most of the weight of a sleeper rests on the center portion of the bed and a lack of support in the center portion can result in bowing of the mattress and instability. Such bowing and instability of the mattress can result in discomfort for the sleeper and excessive wear on the mattress and bed frame.
Therefore, bed frames are sold with separate cross-rail supports to provide support to the center portion of the bed. One or more metal cross-rail supports are assembled to rest on the side rails of the frame and extend along the width of the bed, or on the head rail and foot rail and extend along the length of the bed. Further support for the mattress may be achieved by using a leg, or legs, attached to the cross-rail. The legs rest on the floor and are located beneath the support zone of the bed, supporting the cross-rail from below.
Furthermore, to accommodate the large number of bed widths, the cross-rail supports (and head rail and foot rail) are adjustable to allow the transverse cross-rail supports (and head rail and foot rail) to be lengthened or shortened to support different sized beds.
Even though the cross-rail supports are adjustable, the length of the side rails, which may exceed six feet, cannot be adjusted. Therefore, the bed frames are packaged and sold with a minimum length of six feet or longer. Such packaging causes great inconvenience. For example, the retailer must dedicate much needed additional valuable shelf space for the product. As another example, transporting the product is difficult for the consumer because of its length. In other words, transport of the product is not possible in a trunk of an automobile and therefore the consumer is required to have a larger vehicle or have the bed frame shipped, incurring additional shipping costs. As yet another example, storing the product when the bed frame is not in use is difficult because of the length of the frame.
Another problem with conventional bed frames occurs during the process of adjusting the width of the bed frame. The cross-rail supports of conventional bed frames must be assembled and adjusted while the bed frame is fully opened. It is often times difficult to adjust the width of each cross-rail support due to the geometrical constraints of the bed frame.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a bed frame capable of compact folding for easy transport and storage. Furthermore, it would be advantageous if the width of the bed frame was easy to adjust.